Tom NJ wrote: I can't believe you remember me, let alone my cupboard! Sad to say, the late Mr. Rogov's quote in your sig came true for me shortly after my last post here - I clung on as long as I could after the Crash of '08, but finally went under. They took almost everything I had other than my house, a car, and...my Pans Of Many Colors! Fools! If only they'd known. So yeah, it's still a riot of enameled colors everywhere you look in my kitchen

Wow, I had no idea Siduri had such a pedigree! What a fascinating backstory. That is too cool! I can see why those "boatloads" are on board despite the 14%. It really was a tasty wine. I hope someday I can try others.

Tom, I always remember the people I like! It made me so happy to see your name. And, sorry to hear you had problems; I do hope your marriage survived along with the pans. But yeah, it's fun to remember being one of Adam's first customers. It was really just home made essentially, he didn't go commercial until a year or so later. My first tastes of California's new great pinot vineyards like Pisoni, Garys' and Cargasacchi were all Adam's wines. He's really become an excellent winemaker (you might want to seek out his syrahs, too, under the label Novy.)

But I get Joy's concern over alcohol. So to Joy: do whatever you have to to get your hands on Arcadian pinots. These should/will change your thinking. My cellar holds more Arcadian than any other domestic producer. California fruit, burgundian style, ageable. We just drank our last 03.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Thanks Jenise and David for the recommendations. I will see what I can do to track down Arcadian, although looking on their website, most of their wines are out of my everyday drinking price range. Heck - most (good) Pinot Noir is out of my everyday drinking price range!

And yeah, me and NewWifey(tm) are tighter than ever if anything after all this. She's like the Le Creuset of wives (er...though not in the "big and heavy" way. More like the "brightly colored with a lifetime warranty" way. I think.)

Same combo in the mouth: mushroom on the front followed by violets, pastilles, more dirt. Extraordinary. Some raspberry and other red fruits—long finish, stays on the palate, yet nimble.

After this, drank some Kutch 2011 Sonoma left over from the night before. It was interesting, as the Kutch had lost some of the bell pepper youthfulness it showed on opening. It definitely had more presence and weight than the Dujac, so I could see how some might prefer it, but way fewer surprises.

2003 Domaine Georges Mugneret/Mugneret-Gibourg Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Feusselottes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru (4/18/2013)I have frequently been less than thrilled with the performance of the 2003 Burgundies, but this one was a happy exception. There was certainly a lot of ripe fruit, but it also showed layers of flavors beyond the fruit. Spice, earth & mineral all came through, especially as the wine opened up with air. Quite good, even if the vintage does not give my preferred style of wine.

There behind the glass lies a real blade of grass. Be careful as you pass. Move along. Move along.

Some more Loire valley reds from Pinot Noir were on show at this afternoon's tasting.

Domaine des Chézelles - Touraine

Touraine Pinot Noir 2012 - (€7). I've had PNs, including from Burgundy, which are thin, bland or acidic but this is the first time I've had one actively unpleasant. The nose was closed and the light/medium palate was disfigured by absence of fruit and by a bitter and spiky caramel like flavour dominating the finish. The vigneron rather diffidently said "give it a few weeks and the griotte cherry aromas will come out". Even if they do, I really wonder if it will ever be balanced??? Poor now 11/20.

Just to show that this vigneron can make drinkable wine from other grapes (indeed in previous vintages his Pinot was pleasant but light and a touch bland) -

Touraine Gamay 2011 - (€6). The nose showed some lively Gamay fruit with a prune like tang. The ample and quite generous palate confirmed the fruit and also the tang. Fairly good but I might get tired of that tang 14.5/20.

Further east along the valley vintage conditions in 2012 were better.

Domaine de Coquin - Menetou-Salon (appellation adjoining Sancerre towards the west; whites, good at this estate, are from Sauvignon blanc and, to my palate, very similar to Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé but less pricey)

Menetou-Salon (R) 2012 - (€12) - The nose was discreet but did show signs of griotte cherry. Fruit of rather dark complexion was present on the medium weight palate and there was noticeable but quite smooth tannic structure. The enthusiastic young vigneron, Francis Audiot, claims that the fruit will brighten in a few weeks as the aromas develop; this is credible here. Good 15/20.

Menetou-Salon Mathilde (R) 2010 - (€19), made from old vines and matured for a year of 700 litre barrels. I approached this with some misgivings because of the barrel ageing but the wood proved to be well integrated with just that touch of velvety texture that reveals its use. The nose was becoming more expressive here with explicit sweeter cherry notes and the palate was fuller and more structured than the previous with the fruit necessary to carry the structure. This one needs two or three years, I think, though it could be enjoyable now with a rare marbré steak. Good now 15.5/20 with perhaps very good potential.

True, but I hope to cast my net much further afield this coming weekend at the tasting of a very enterprising importer who has good names from Oz, NZ, South Africa, Italy and Chile in his portfolio, all of which are PN producing countries, as well as from Argentina, Spain, Austria and Portugal, which are not.

Note the absence of the USA. For various reasons (price is one) very little hand crafted American wine makes it over here and I don't recall ever having seen a Cali PN or one from Oregon, except Drouhin. The only Cali PNs which have transited through my cellar were some Sanford brought back from Santa Barbara in 1995, some Saintsbury bought in London and a couple from Russian River brought over by Jim Dove. (BTW does anyone know where he hangs out nowadays? I haven't seen him on any of the boards where I lurk.)

Light salmon pink in color with reddish tingesNice aromatic nose, apples, strawberry, perhaps some cranberry too?Off-dry entry, strawberry, gd acidity, not high in alcohol as some report on CT. Refreshing, very good value and of interest for sure.

Jenise wrote:Good to see Siduri mentioned. Adam Lee has done good things. Once upon a time, the wine internet was a tiny place and the guy who makes Siduri, Adam Lee, was just another poster along with Robin, me and others you'll meet here. He worked at Benziger, and talked about his plan to start making his own pinot noir. He wanted to be the next William Selyam. He finally made one barrel, and we his internet friends were among his first customers. I bought a six pack. I believe it was the '94 vintage and I know the grapes were from a cooler site in the Anderson Valley, either the Cerise or Rose vineyard. Anyway, the wine was stunning and he's been doing great work ever since. His wines very accurately capture the personality of the vineyards he works with and I know he's done a lot of experimenting with different yeasts and barrels in order to fine-tune his product. Quite admirable. Yeah, the alcohols are usually on the high side, but he has a boatload of customers who don't think that's a problem.

Interesting back story, Jenise. I bought some of those early Siduri Pinots on the strength of the reviews they got in CGCW, and they were the first wines to introduce me to the problems of aging wines under plastic cork. I'll never forget popping the plastic cork on one of those early Siduri Pinots and getting a totally dead wine, one of the very few that I could classify that way.

Jenise wrote:I'll never forget popping the plastic cork on one of those early Siduri Pinots and getting a totally dead wine, one of the very few that I could classify that way.

Mark Lipton

I forgot about those! A real pretty shade of violet, weren't they. I never managed to test those corks as my first six pack (Rose Vineyard, I'm now certain of that) was too beguiling to leave alone for very long, we drank them all within two years. Later bottles were mostly consumed fairly early too. How old was your totally dead bottle?

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Jenise wrote:I'll never forget popping the plastic cork on one of those early Siduri Pinots and getting a totally dead wine, one of the very few that I could classify that way.

Mark Lipton

I forgot about those! A real pretty shade of violet, weren't they. I never managed to test those corks as my first six pack (Rose Vineyard, I'm now certain of that) was too beguiling to leave alone. Later bottles were mostly consumed fairly early too. How old was your totally dead bottle?

I wasn't keeping meticulous records back then, but I'd guess that it was around 2000 or 2001. It was a '96 IIRC, though the vineyard has been lost in the mists of my beleaguered memory.

Clear ruby with a light edge. Dark cherries add a whiff of jammy berries on the nose. On the palate it's fresh black cherries, juicy and appealing, shaped by crisp, food-friendly acidity and an astringent edge of tannins. It's grown in the Auvergne, not an area known for "Burgundian" Pinot, but there is good varietal character here in a fresh, appetizing table wine at an attractive price. U.S. importer: Kobrand Corp., NYC. (Sept. 21, 2011)

Garnet, with a clear edge. Simple but typical Pinot scent, ripe cherries, a whiff of roses, and a touch of tomato skin. Tart red fruit, zippy acidity and soft tannins. Food brings it around, but even at a traditional 12.5% alcohol, it's a bit rough-edged for sipping by itself. To be frank, when you're in the market for generic Burgundy for less than $20, you're not going to get a wine that makes you hear choirs of angels sing. Still, this one gives a sense of Burdundian Pinot and is certainly more than drinkable with dinner. U.S. importer: Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., NYC. (March 22, 2012)

FOOD MATCH: I fashioned a "Marco Polo" Italian-Asian fusion dish of snow peas, onions and green peppers in a lightly spicy roasted red pepper velout&eacute; over mezze rigatoni. It was decent, although its rough-hewn style might have found a better match with rare red meat or a fatty cheese. Indeed, it mellowed a bit with a taste of simple, buttery cheese.

WHEN TO DRINK: It will keep under good conditions for a year or three, but I wouldn't cellar it with any real hope for significant evolution over time.

VALUE: My local price is close to the median U.S. retail listed on Wine-Searcher.com, but comparison shopping may pay off, as some vintages in some locations go for considerably less. Frankly, although it's drinkable, the upper teens is pushing its quality-price ratio in a competitive market.

Dark purple with a clear garnet edge. Good black and red cherry aromas are joined by a hint of blackberries on the palate, very appealing balance of fresh but not overwhelming fruit with crisp and food-friendly acidity framed by soft tannins. Definitely a fruit-focused Pinot, but its cool weather origin keeps it from going down the blockbuster road, and that is a good thing. Stated alcohol content 13.5%. U.S. importer: American Estates Wines Inc., Philadelphia, for California Wine Club's International Selections

FOOD MATCH: Like all good Pinot Noir, this one is versatile with a range of fare, from red meat to grilled poultry, wild salmon, vegetarian bean and cheese dishes or even spicy Asian fare. It was fine with gently spicy Sichuan shredded beef with carrots and celery.

WHEN TO DRINK: It's delicious and ready to go right now, but I wouldn't have any qualms about cellaring it for up to five years, bearing in mind that Pinot frequently shows unpredictable ups and downs in the cellar.

Some wine wits half-seriously advise, "Never buy a wine with an animal on the label," although this counsel, taken to the extreme, would bar the world-class Chateau Cheval Blanc ("White Horse") from our cellars, not to mention the outstanding Northern Italian wines of La Spinetta with their rhinoceros label. Seriously, though, this modestly priced Pinot is almost secretive, with limited front-label info, the wine's Languedoc origin almost buried in tiny type, and the bottler, "11N129 at F11160" (Rieux-Minervois), encoded into anonymity. And yet ... the wine is pretty good for a Languedoc Pinot. Dark garnet almost all the way to the edge, it offers cherry compote, cooked sweet dark cherries and a hint of brown spices, on the nose and palate. Food-friendly fresh-fruit acidity, 12.5% acidity and a soft touch of tannins come together in a wine that's on the simple side but clearly recognizable as Pinot and good with food. U.S. importer: Prestige Wine Group, Pronceton, Minn. (April 4, 2013)

Last night had a couple of red Burgundies. The 2010 Fourrier Chambolle Musigny was juicy fragrant fun, but it was served in such close proximity to more aged and mellow wines that it was hard to take it on its own primary terms. Other folks said the same thing about the 1996 Rousseau Charmes-Chambertin but I paid plenty of attention to it and was rewarded with a fresh but harmonious stream of silk. Delicious.

Mid-month I opened a 2007 Alex Gambal Savigny Les Beaune Vielles Vignes. Dark purple and opaque. Dark fruited with an earthy touch. Plenty of acid. Not particularly rewarding--may have been closed or dormant. I think I liked it better upon release.Tomorrow I will post on two 2008 Oregon Pinots and then finish off the month's focus with a Mercurey from Burgundy.

Two from Willamette Valley, OR.2008 Scott Paul "La Paulee." Stelvin or screwcap closeure. 13.1 % alcohol by volume. Grapes include blocks from Maresh, Ribbon Ridge, and Momtazi Vineyards. Dark purple-red color; nearly opaque. My reaction to yellow pine pollen made it difficult to assess aromas. When it does penetrate the congested nose, a cherry perfume enters the nostrils. The flavors suggest both cherries and plumskins. Am I stretching to find a subtle hint of pine needles or is that really present? Not sure. Smooth, elegant presentation. On the tart spectrum but not off-putting. Midweight but with a lingering, pleasant finish. One of the better Pinots of recent months for me. Refreshing to see the abv around 13% instead of over 14%. This wine is a winner. The first evening I had this with leftover chicken, artichoke and seedless grape salad with poppyseed dressing. The second evening I paired it with breaded veal scallopini. I have two of the 2009 vintage La Paulee and at least one 2010.

2008 Adelsheim Pinot Noir. 13.3% abv. Label says crop levels are kept low. Very dark opaque purple color. Dark berries and pine forest on the nose are echoed on the palate. A suitable amount of acid to keep it fresh. Well made and satisfying but not quite up to the standard of the Scott Paul La Paulee IMHO. This paired well the second evening with bites of Manchego and Cheshire cheese pre-dinner.